Education Minister Erica Stanford has deflected questions over the Government’s charter schools programme, deferring instead to associate minister David Seymour.
The Charter School Agency confirmed this week it is currently considering just four formal applications for conversions to open in Term 1 next year, falling well short of the 35 state school conversions the Government allocated funding for in last year’s Budget.
In an interview on Q+A, Stanford told host Jack Tame, “you’ll have to ask David Seymour” when pressed about whether the $10 million establishment budget and $140,000 average salaries at the agency represented good value for money.
“Those are questions for Minister Seymour,” she said.
“You should get him on the show and ask him that.”
Countered that she was the Education Minister, Stanford said: “Well, I’ve got my hands full at the moment with massive transformational change, structured literacy, structured maths, the new qualifications framework. And, you know, he’s responsible for that area.”
Meanwhile, Associate Education Minister David Seymour told Q+A people are “testing the water”. (Source: 1News)
Stanford acknowledged the low conversion numbers “clearly” hadn’t matched figures previously presented, but again deferred questions to the ACT minister.
“It is his area of responsibility. However, this is the tension in the system, right? You put something different in, and it’s supposed to make me go, ‘actually, we need to up our game, so we don’t have people leaving, and wanting to convert to charter schools.'”
Stanford said she didn’t want schools to leave the mainstream system, describing charter schools as creating “tension” designed to hold state education to account.
“I don’t want schools to leave and become charter schools. That’s why transformational change, a new qualifications framework, structured literacy, all of the resources, and professional learning and development. And that’s the tension in the system,” she said.
“David and I had this conversation early on when we talked about charter schools and converting schools. Even he said to me, ‘that’s the point, at the moment … there is the inherent tension in the system, ‘because otherwise, who holds the system to account.'”
The privately run and publicly funded academies were introduced by the coalition Government. (Source: 1News)
Seymour’s party, ACT, has long advocated for charter schools to be part of the education system. It was a key priority for the party following the last general election, with the policy forming part of its coalition agreement with National.
The Government allocated $153 million in funding over four years to establish and operate up to 15 new charter schools and convert 35 state schools to charter schools by the end of next year, at Budget 2024.
While dozens of applications have been received for new charter schools, no state schools have converted so far.
Stanford said any unused funding from the charter school conversion programme would “no doubt” be repurposed into other parts of the education sector.
More to come
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air
